The NFL got what it wanted, needed, and deserved Monday night: A bloodbath, and criticism for it...

Pittsburgh and Cincinnati had a prolonged fight last night, disguised as a purported Monday Night Football contest.

The NFL has got some real questions to answer this Tuesday morning about a number of incidents and near-misses of getting a player killed last night -- and this, barely 24 hours after the Rob Gronkowski elbow-drop in Buffalo...

The first thing people need to understand is that the 2017 NFL season has been one of dirty cheap shots, defense, and the most-fined teams being up near the top of the standings -- and if you don't think that didn't register, as of last week, New England was the bottom team before Gronkowski's suspension.

Ryan Shazier nearly died on this hit.  He suffered a spinal contusion and remains in the hospital as of this morning.


Self-inflicted, unnecessary, head down, and got the ball-carrier in the ribs and almost killed himself as a result.

We usually speak of Vontaze Burfict in terms of HIS dirty hits. And I can't say, for the life of me, that there isn't some degree of "he got this one because of his reputation". This one's gonna leave a mark, though:


That's not a "peel-back block". That was a helmet-to-helmet hit, designed to end someone's career. Ask Kurt Warner.

And you have some of the "First Take" talking heads doing their best to paper over it.

Why?

Because the NFL community, starting with ESPN's Jon Gruden, took great issue with last night's game.

Here's the facts:

If the White Right protesters really wanted to make their mark, they'd accuse Goodell of letting the game, the entire sport, and the players they do hate get completely out of control.  This has been probably the worst year yet, and the most obvious one, for dirty hits, cheap shots, and the messages not getting received with Fine Friday and all that shit.

THE PLAYERS ARE OUT OF FUCKING CONTROL.

Consider:  Two weeks, Pittsburgh plays New England to basically set the rest of the narrative for the NFL.  (And then, New England plays Buffalo in a rematch where Gronkowski is going to get cheap-shotted.)

I agree with anyone, now, who says the game cannot be saved -- that is correct.  But this is extra layers on top of it.  Someone, last night, went out there to end someone's career, if not life.